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3rd Aug 11 at 02:08pm

Fake IKEA

More Fake stuff in China - fake IKEA in Kunming. Looks like Kunming is churning out the fake shops, Apple, Adidos (according to my brother) and IKEA. The great thing about fake IKEA is the name. In Chinese IKEA is "Yi Jia Jia Ju" (宜家家具) and fake IKEA is called 11 Furniture Store i.e. "Shi Yi Jia Ju" (十一家具) Pretty close eh?! You gotta give it to them for erm...creative copying??

IKEA vs Carrefour!

IKEA anytime. It's crowded and yes people are milling around, sitting on the sofa, sleeping on the beds, like they are in their own home. They shuffle around and block your passage way and it takes maneuvering around them to make headway. Yes, it's messy and annoying.

But not as super annoying as the sales promoters in Carrefour. Oh man!! They descend upon you like bloody hawks, trying to sell you whatever and they just don't stop. It's like the copy watch touts on the streets. And there are more of them than customers. I just shout at them 'Bu Yao' (don't want!).

Never again! Delivery service next time.

27th Jul 11 at 04:07pm

Random pix

Nanjing West Road Pedestrian Walkway, fulllllllllllll of local Chinese from outside Shanghai. Photo doesn't do justice on how crowded it was.

The French Concession which is where we live is extremely leafy!

And there are so many many many countless old buildings even more beautiful than this one scattered all over Shanghai.

I wish I knew what was going on here. Bunch of men in uniforms guarding a load of watermelons. Maybe they are protesting over the exploding watermelon phenomenon? Or waiting for it to explode?

27th Jul 11 at 01:07pm

Get over the hygiene issue!

The very first thing one has to get used to quickly here in China is the hygiene issue i.e. the lack of it. It’s just not very clean.

And by that I mean, street pavements are filled with litter, food, dog poo, pee; they are wet; smells of pee (human?); your head gets dripped on by water coming out of air cons (memories of good old HK days); people smell, the street smells, the water smells; taxi are scummy, white fabric seats are a really bad idea here; there is the air pollution, well let's just not go there. I could go on.

I love the fact that we can walk everywhere but in flip flops? It gave me the heebee jeebies. It’s closed, comfortable shoes from now on!!

Plus the ever so wonderful music to everyone’s ears of some guy hacking and spitting on the street just behind you! Don't you just love it!

Sigh….

Get over it! It’s China!

But once you get pass this hurdle, the wonders and amazements of living in Shanghai begins to open up a ton of opportunities. I am sounding like a newbie. Well, because I am.

17th Jul 11 at 03:07pm

Cute Cat video to chase the blues away

23rd Aug 11 at 05:08pm

First mishap in Shanghai

We went to Din Tai Fung, popular international allegedly 1 michelin star Taiwanese restaurant chain in Xintiandi. Was hungry and very excited about our xiaolongbao and jiao zhi.

Lucky lucky me bit into a piece of glass in one of the jiao zhi. It was big enough to have caused some damaged and certainly sharp enough to puncture something. But I didn't bite too hard so there was no serious damage, no blood. I didn't swallow it, so no injuries.

Not impressed at all. Never going back there even though we did not pay for the meal.

I was that one unlucky sod that had to get that one sick jiao zhi (they must make thousands of them every meal)!

10th Jul 11 at 05:07pm

10 days in Shanghai

You can find almost everything in Shanghai, every brand conceivable and its knock-off, of course. We even found Leonidas, that expensive Belgium chocolate brand

It’s food heaven! Cheap, good and plentiful!

For my kitties, there are suprisingly many pet shops (the Chinese are really into pets these days) and there are neighborhood grocery stores selling gweilo expat fodder. You just have to find them

WE CAN WALK! Although it was pretty damn hot and humid this past weekend and after about a 20 or 30 min wander (it felt like an hour to me!!) I was pouring sweat like Niagara Falls, something I am so not used to after living in the arid dry desert.

People on the street are generally nice. They don’t bump into you like the HKers do.

We found a fantastic DVD shop with all the movies in the world. And music. Movies for RMB 12, CDs for 20.

Have not experience much shoving and pushing

Coming from Dubai there is sooooo much to do, there are jazz clubs, classical music of all sorts, theatres, etc etc etc I can't wait! Am aiming for a good classical music concert to chill out to!

Hygiene is not quite there yet. The other half who takes the metro to work everyday complaints about bad breath amongst the locals onthe train. Yuck! Streets aren’t that clean unless you are on Nanjing Lu or Huai Hai. And the air smells of food especially in more local areas.

Wine is not cheap, cheese is not cheap, salami and ham are not cheap. Variety of cheese bit sad, same as salami and ham. And fish, no good fresh fish here!!

Yes they spit on the streets and don’t q.

Like Dubai (my tai tai friends there will understand) supermarket shopping is all over the place, some places are better and cheaper for some things so you find yourself going to different places to buy different things. Real pain.

Internet is super super super super slowwwwwwwwww.

The middle ground...

They are quite environmentally friendly in a way and not in others. All supermarkets charge about RMB 0.30 -0.50 for plastic bags, which is a good thing. Most people bring their own bags. But they wrap all their veggies in foam plates and plastic wrap. ALL of them!! In small quantities. Like 2 peeled big red onions, 3 apples, 3 small mangoes!! Drives me mad!!

It's a bit weird going back to normal Mon - Sun week.

Delivery is big here. Supermarkets deliver, food delivery, pet shop delivery, online shopping delivery. You can sit on your arse everyday and not leave the house and still live.

10th Jul 11 at 05:07pm

Fongster's World Part II

When I left Hong Kong for Dubai in 2007, I started a blog. It was called Fongster's World. I did it so my friends can keep in touch with what I was up to. Then Facebook came and I gave up the blog. Truthfully, towards the end, I had probably just one fan, one friend who read my blog regularly. You know who you are.

Now, I am about to leave sandpit for a new adventure in Shangtropolis, and so I am starting a blog again, Fongster's World Part Deux.

Although I have my VPN in place, it is China I am going to, so who knows how often I am going to be able to log onto Facebook. Besides, not everyone is into Facebook these days.

So, this is where you can come to and check out what Fongster and family is up to in the wide wide world of Chiner! I don't promise to be regular; I don't promise anything too saucy or personal; I don't promise award winning journalism/writing.

It'll be enough to give you an idea that I am still alive and kicking!!